The Linguistic Culture-2 (british media) (1157941), страница 4
Текст из файла (страница 4)
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here are 9,000 different periodicals and magazines in Britain, which are of a weekly, monthly or quarterly nature and are dependent upon sales and advertising to survive. They are aimed at different markets and levels of professions and business or are dealing with sports, hobbies and interests (read by 80 per cent of adults).
The teenage and youth magazine market has suffered large sales losses recently. This is attributed to greater Internet and mobile phone usage. Women’s periodicals, such as Take a Break, Woman and Woman’s Own, have large and wide circulations. But the bestselling publications are the weekly Radio Times and What’s on TV, which contain feature stories and programmes for BBC and independent television. Other magazines cover interests such as computers, rural pastimes, gardening, railways, cooking, architecture, do-it-yourself skills and sports.
Among the serious weekly journals are The New Statesman and Society , the Economist (dealing with economic and political matters); The Spectator (a conservative journal); and The New Scientist. The Times publishes influential weekly magazines, such as the Educational Supplement, the Higher Education Supplement) and the Literary Supplement.
The broadcasting media
The broadcasting media consist of radio, terrestrial television and cable/satellite television. Three authorities oversee these services: the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the Independent Television Commission (ITC) and the Radio Authority.
The BBC is based at Broadcasting House in London, but has stations throughout the country, which provide regional networks for radio and television. It was created by Royal Charter and has a board of governors who are responsible for supervising its programmes. They are appointed by the Crown on the advice of government ministers and are supposed to constitute an independent element in the organization of the BBC.
The BBC is financed by a grant from Parliament, which comes from the sale of television licences (Ј1.6 billion per year). These are payable by anyone who owns a television set and are relatively cheap in international terms (Ј104 annually for a colour set). The BBC also generates considerable income from selling its programmes abroad and from the sale of a programme guide (Radio Times), books, magazines and videos.
The BBC’s external services, which consist of radio broadcasts in English (the World Service) and 42 other languages abroad, were founded in 1932 and are funded by the Foreign Office. These have a reputation for objective news reporting and programmes. The BBC also began commercially funded television programmes in 1991 by cable to Europe and by satellite links to Africa and Asia; BBC World (news) – now merged with the World Service.
The BBC is not a state organization, but it is not as independent on political pressures as many in Britain and overseas assume. Its charter has to be renewed by Parliament and by its terms government can, and does, intervene in the showing of programmes.. The BBC governors are in fact government appointees. Governments can also exert pressure upon the BBC when the licence fee comes up for renewal by Parliament.
The BBC does try to be neutral in political matters. The major parties have equal rights to broadcast on the BBC and independent television.
There are 5 national radio channels (to be increased by five new digital channels); 39 local stations serving many districts in England; and regional and community services in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The national channels specialize in different tastes. Radio 1 caters for pop music; Radio 2 has light music, news, and comedy; Radio 3 provides classical and modern serious music, talks, discussions and plays; Radio 4 concentrates on news reports, analysis, talks and plays; and Radio 5 Live (established 1990) has sport and news programmes.
The BBC was certainly affected by the invention of television, which changed British entertainment and news habits. The BBC now has two television channels (BBC1 and BBC2). BBC1 is a mass-appeal channel with an audience share of 28 per cent. Its programmes consist of news, plays and drama series, comedy, quiz shows, variety performances, sport and documentaries. BBC2, with an audience share of 11 per cent, tends to show more serious items such as news analysis and discussion, documentaries, adaptations of novels into plays and series, operas, concerts and some sport. It is also provides Open University courses. The Labour government has approved (2001) the expansion of BBC television services by the creation of a BBC4 channel (culture and the arts) and two channels for children under six and over.
A large number of the programmes shown on television are made in Britain, although there are also many imported American series. A few programmes come from other English-speaking countries, such as Australia, New Zealand and Canada. But there are relatively few foreign-language productions on British television and these are either dubbed or subtitled.
British television has a high reputation abroad. News reports, documentaries and current-affairs analyses are generally of a high standard, as are dramatic, educational, sporting, natural history and cultural productions. But there is also a wide selection of series, soap operas, films, quizzes and variety shows which are of doubtful quality.
Voices have been raised about the alleged levels of sex, violence and bad language on British television. The Conservative government considered that violence, sex and obscenity on television do affect viewers and was concerned to ‘clean up’ television. A Broadcasting Standards Complaints Commission monitors programmes, examines complaints, establishes codes of conduct for the broadcasting organizations.
Reuters News Agency is an international nres agency headqutered in London. It operates in more than 200 cities and offers quick and easy access to hot news in about 200 languages.
Translate into Russian:
Circulation, Editorials To hinder Censorship
To eliminate Superficial Illiteracy Allegedly
The Foreign Office Government appointees Availability
Revenue To exert pressure
To merge updated news
To oversee Obscenity
Answer the questions:
1. What does term media include?
2. What is the reason why the British continue to buy newspapers?
3. Which categories are the national British newspapers divided into?
4. Do you know any British newspapers or magazines (journals)?
5. What are the main British t.v. channels?
6. What is the BBC service?
Cultural life, Customs and Traditions
Every nation and every country has its own traditions and customs. Traditions make a nation special. Some of them are old-fashioned and many people remember them, others are part of new people’s life.
You cannot really imagine Britain without all her traditions.Some British customs and traditions are known all over the world.
.Homes and Houses
Do you remember R. Kipling’ famous expression: My home is my castle?
Is an English man's home really his castle? 82% of British families prefer to live in their own houses and only 15% live n a flat. Some typical British homes are the smallest in Europe. The report undertaken by the Centre for Economics & Business Research for Bradford & Bingley reveals British living space per home is 12 percent smaller than the average Spanish home, 14 percent smaller than in Germany and 16 percent smaller than in France.
An Englishman's home is as much his castle is it was 100 years ago, though both the role and the look of the home are changing.
National Dress
Unfortunately the English don't really have a traditional National Dress as such. King Henry VIII got on the act and commissioned an artist called Van Dyck to create an English National Costume, but this failed.
The other peoples , living in the UK have their national costumes. For example, in Scotland there is a tradition for men to wear kilts on holidays mad from tartan cloth.
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Welsh National dress is relatively young and not as famous as Scottish National dress. Still they do have a National costume.
For the ladies the typical Welsh costume consists of a hat, made of black felt, with a high crown and wide brim, which is worn over a lace cap.
With the revival of Irish dancing, the traditional Irish costume has become associated with the bright flamboyant costumes worn by traditional Irish dancers.
British Food
A brief history. British cuisine has always been multicultural, in ancient times influenced by the Romans and in medieval times by the French. When the Frankish Normans invaded, they brought with them the spices of the east. Sugar came to England at that time, and was considered a spice -- rare and expensive. For centuries the English aristocracy ate French food which distinguished them from the peasants.
What should one know coming to England? First – a typical English breakfast different from the continental one, a lunch (from 12 o’clock to 1 o’clock), five-o’clock tea, dinner or supper (6-7 o”clock).
There are some traditional dishes such as roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, Cornish pasti Wesker.
Popular British Holidays
Guy Fawkes Day aka Bonfire Night - November 5PthP. This popular British rhyme is often spoken on Bonfire Night, in memory of the Gunpowder Plot: Remember, remember the 5th of NovemberGunpowder, treason and plot. I see no reason that gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgotten. 
Guy Fawkes was born in Yorkshire in 1570. A convert to the Catholic faith, Fawkes had been a soldier who had spent several years fighting in Italy. It was during this period that he adopted the name Guido (Italian for Guy) perhaps to impress the ladies!
'Guy Fawkes Day' is also known as 'Bonfire Night' or 'Fireworks Night' by some, marks the date, November 5, 1605, when Guy Fawkes and his fellow conspirators attempted to kill King James I and the Members of Parliament and to blow up the Houses of Parliament.
This conspiracy arose as a reaction to the persecution of Catholics under the rule of King James, a Protestant. Infuriated by the failure of King James, the son of the passionately Catholic Mary Queen of Scots, to grant more toleration to Catholics. Four other Catholics joined with Fawkes in his plans including Robert Catesby. Catesby made a fatal error and invited other Catholics to join the plot until there were 60 plotters in all, you try keeping a secret when 60 people know about it.
Thomas Percy rented a cellar beneath the Palace of Westminster and 36 barrels of gunpowder were placed in the cellars of the Houses of Parliament. But Francis Tresham betrayed the conspiracy in a letter to his brother-in-law Lord Monteagle, warning him not to attend parliament. Monteagle told the government and Fawkes was caught red handed in the cellars under Parliament, with a box of matches in his pocket and a guilty expression on his face! His fellow conspirators fled but many were killed or arrested and 9 members of the 60+ plotters, including Fawkes, were hung, drawn and quartered in January 1606.
Comedians down the ages have said that he was "The only man ever to have entered Parliament with honest intentions."
In London, bonfires were lit to celebrate the discovery of the plot soon after Fawkes was discovered and In 1606 Parliament agreed to make 5th November a day of public thanksgiving and ever since then the day has been celebrated with fireworks and bonfires. However, it is not a public holiday.
Today children still make stuffed figures with masks as effigies of Guy Fawkes. They call these figures guys and display them in the streets. Some even use the traditional formula of "A penny for the guy" when asking passersby for money (which is spent on fireworks). The guys then become the centre-piece of bonfires on the night of November 5 when fireworks light up the sky over most of Britain.
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